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HARRISBURG - Trading grave allegations against one Luzerne County jurist for the looming prosecution of another, the state Judicial Conduct Board voted to delay an investigation of former Judge Michael T. Conahan until after he appeared as a witness at ex-Judge Ann H. Lokuta's misconduct trial, the board admitted in a statement made public Monday.

The board said it voted to table the investigation in June 2007 at the urging of its chief counsel, Joseph A. Massa Jr., whose summary for board members of a September 2006 complaint against Conahan failed to mention claims of case-fixing and suspicions about Conahan's close relationship with former colleague Mark A. Ciavarella Jr.

Massa included the summary in a memorandum recommending the board authorize a full investigation focusing on accusations Conahan engaged in nepotism and cronyism and associated with "individuals believed to be known criminals," the board said.

Massa pre-empted his recommendation at the June 2007 meeting, asking board members to table the Conahan matter and delay the investigation until the board's October 2007 meeting because he expected Conahan to testify at Lokuta's trial, which was scheduled to begin in September.

Massa disputed the board's version of events as he testified Monday at the last of a series of hearings before the Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice, the state panel investigating the county kids-for-cash scandal.

Massa said he asked the board to authorize the full investigation but was overruled by board member John R. Cellucci, who recommended the case be halted until after the Lokuta matter was resolved.

Lokuta's trial, on allegations she mistreated court staff and showed up late for hearings, was expected to end before the October 2007 meeting, but dragged on into April 2008, Massa said.

The September 2006 complaint never appeared on another conduct board agenda and the board did not discuss Conahan or Ciavarella again until August 2008, when it received two complaints based on newspaper reports about a corruption investigation focusing on Conahan and Ciavarella.

Asked if the board was protecting Conahan by stalling the investigation into the September 2006 complaint, Massa replied, "absolutely not."

Cellucci, the current chairman of the conduct board, attended the hearing Monday but did not testify. He corroborated Massa's testimony during a brief interview after the hearing. In the process, Cellucci added his own confusion to the already muddled recollections of the board's handling of the complaint.

Cellucci said he recommended the delayed response to the Conahan complaint after Massa told the board that Conahan and Ciavarella were the subjects of a federal investigation.

In its statement made public Monday, the conduct board said it was unaware of the probe until the August 2008 meeting, when the newspaper articles attached to the 2008 complaints made it clear that "a full-scale federal investigation was under way."

Massa waited until last fall to disclose his earlier cooperation with federal investigators to conduct board members, the board said in its statement.

Massa received a letter from the U.S. Attorney's Office inquiring about the Conahan complaint on March 24, 2008 and responded a week later, without the board's input, with a copy of the seven-page document, the board said.

Massa sent another letter to the U.S. Attorney's Office on June 17, 2008, asking for information he could share with the conduct board about the Conahan and Ciavarella investigation.

Lokuta, who attended the hearing, said that inquiry coincided with her attacks on the credibility of Conahan, Ciavarella and other officials whose testimony led to her removal from the bench overturned.

"It's at the very time, my notes indicate, that Mr. Massa said he sought input from the U.S. Attorney because he thought then he might have a bad witness," Lokuta said. "I think they knew all along they had a bad witness and my constitutional rights have been abrogated at each and every level of the proceeding against me."

Massa testified before a federal grand jury investigating Ciavarella and Conahan in January 2009, two weeks before prosecutors hit them with an initial set of charges accusing them of pocketing $2.8 million in kickbacks from the backers a pair of for-profit juvenile detention centers.

Conahan, 57, and Ciavarella 60, withdrew their guilty pleas last summer and are now awaiting trial on a 48-count racketeering indictment.

The 2006 complaint, which Lokuta later admitted was authored by a member of her judicial staff, languished in Massa's office for nine months before being presented to the board.

Massa, who added the complaint to his own caseload, said he performed some preliminary legal research, but lacked the resources and manpower to complete a more thorough investigation.

The board's three investigators were each handling more than 30 cases and the board's staff was consumed with prosecuting Lokuta, whose case was "driving the engine" of the office, Massa said.

According to the complaint:

> Conahan and Ciavarella consorted with reputed mob boss William D'Elia and cavorted with one of the backers of the for-profit juvenile detention centers, former Drums attorney Robert J. Powell.

> Ciavarella's children were given access to a condominium Powell owned in Florida.

> Ciavarella and Conahan, and their staffs, and Conahan's cousin, former court administrator William T. Sharkey Sr., were also guests at the condominium and on Powell's yacht, "Reel Justice."

> At the same time, Ciavarella was presiding over civil cases in which Powell's clients racked up $16 million in damages, but never disclosed his extrajudicial relationship with the attorney.

Massa said his failure to include the case-fixing allegations in his summary of the complaint "was not a deliberate matter."

"If I had to do it over again," he said, "I would have attached the original complaint."

msisak@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2061

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7 posted comments

She got railroaded by a powerful train and this guy was the caboose, the tail end, the horses a__.

This is insane! Put off investigating a judge accused of corruption until he testifies against another judge for having a poor attitude. Where is the logic in this? Give me a judge with a poor attitude any day over a thief. Who watches over these people? They should put Lokuta back at least she isn't corrupt.

JT,You may be correct, however, while the PaJCB should enter into the 21st century and attach an initial confidential tracking number to each complaint until made public pursuant to their IOP’s, complainants possess hard copies with prints, filings with others (agencies, inter alios), phone/fax trails, Certificate of Mailing(s), IP’s, PWP/PC hard-drive tracking(s) as the same on floppy discs, discs, CD’s, flash/external hard-drives.. Reverting back decades, the list goes on and on… Subject to the much of the same unless destroyed, the PaJCB/CJD, Massa, et al., are simply in deep trouble…

I believe that Massa is a liar. To say that he skipped the most important point in a complaint about a judge and then state "It was not deliberate" is beyond comprehension. He is simply asking us to believe him and that he is sorry. Volunteer to take a polygraph Mr. Massa. Give us a reason to believe you. This is your board's fifth explanation as to what happened to the Conahan Complaint. The first four explanations were lies but you want us to believe that this one is the truth. I have two words for you: Grand Jury!

Where is/was the on-record testimony of ten (10) year PaJCB Public Member and Present Board Chairman John R. Cellucci? Corroboration or Collaboration?? Convenient Confusions or Collusive Conflicts??? The I.C.J.J. could only do so much. Time for the PaSupremeCt to take command….